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Newsletter 13-11

Issue 13-11, April 21, 2013

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1) INSTRUMENT TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE EUROPA CLIPPER MISSION CONCEPT
2) PLANETARY INSTRUMENT CONCEPTS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SOLAR SYSTEM OBSERVATIONS
3) ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE GAIA SCIENCE TEAM
4) ON LINE EXTENSION AND SPECIAL 2013 MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
5) CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2013 IUPAP YOUNG SCIENTIST MEDAL IN THE FIELD OF ASTROPHYSICS
6) JOB/POSITION OPPORTUNITIES
7) UPCOMING MEETINGS
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INSTRUMENT TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE EUROPA CLIPPER MISSION CONCEPT

James L. Green, Director, Planetary Science Division, NASA HQ

Congress recently passed a FY13 budget for NASA that includes funding to continue pre-formulation and formulation activities for a Europa mission. As part of this effort NASA plans to release an amendment to ROSES 2013 describing a NASA Research Announcement (NRA) for instrument technology development in support of the Europa Clipper mission concept. The goal of this call is to mature and reduce the technical risk of instruments for the Europa Clipper mission to the point where they may be proposed in response to a possible future announcement of flight opportunity without additional extensive technology development.
Awarding the funds before the end of FY13 will require an extremely aggressive schedule. To that end, NASA plans to release the NRA no later than April 30; proposals will be due 45 days after the release of the NRA.

The Europa Clipper strawman payload includes an Ice Penetrating Radar (IPR), a Shortwave Infrared Spectrometer (SWIRS), a Topographic Imager (TI), a mass spectrometer (MS), and a magnetometer. The IPR, SWIRS, TI, and MS have been identified as needing significant early development to enable them to operate in the Europan environment, and NASA Plans to target those instruments with this funding opportunity. While other instruments may be proposed, selection preference will be given to proposed instruments in these four categories. US proposers to the recent JUICE AO are especially encouraged to consider proposing to ICEE if their JUICE instrument concepts are applicable to the Europa Clipper mission.

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PLANETARY INSTRUMENT CONCEPTS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SOLAR SYSTEM OBSERVATIONS

Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations (PICASSO) program supports the development of spacecraft-based instrument systems that show promise for use in future planetary missions. The goal of the program is to conduct planetary and astrobiology science instrument feasibility studies, concept formation, proof of concept instruments, and advanced component technology development to the point where they may be proposed in response to Appendix C.19 of ROSES. Therefore, the proposed instrument system or advanced components must address specific scientific objectives of likely future planetary science missions. The objective of the program is to develop new technologies that significantly improve instrument measurement capabilities for planetary science missions (such as Discovery, New Frontiers, Mars Exploration, and other planetary programs).

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ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE GAIA SCIENCE TEAM

The Gaia mission, a global astrometric survey mission, is an element of ESA's Scientific Programme, which is foreseen to be launched in September 2013.
Proposals are solicited for individual membership in the GST, whose mandate is to advise the Agency on all scientific matters regarding the Gaia mission as described in the Science Management Plan. The appointment of one of the photometry scientists in the GST as the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) chair has led to a vacant position in the team. As a result to the present Announcement of Opportunity one new photometry scientist will be selected, for a renewable period of three years.
The successful applicant is expected to have a keen interest and proven track record in at least one of the scientific fields to which Gaia will make a significant contribution. In order to complement the science coverage of the current GST, expertise in the area of our Solar System is a strong asset. Applicants for the position of the photometry scientist are expected to have a good understanding of the aspects of all Gaia instruments and specifically of the spectrophotometer.
Membership in the GST is on an individual basis; all scientists from institutions located in ESA Member States are eligible to apply. The GST with the new appointment as a result to the present Announcement of Opportunity is anticipated to first meet in July 2013. As described in the Announcement of Opportunity, the Gaia Science Team will be selected ensuring that they are to a reasonable degree independent from the management activities of DPAC.
With the present letter I therefore invite interested members of the scientific community to respond to the Announcement of Opportunity, available on line at http://sci.esa.int/GaiaGSTPhotAO. Responses to the Announcement of Opportunity are due by 30 April 2013 following the procedure described in detail at http://sci.esa.int/GaiaGSTPhotAO.

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ON LINE EXTENSION AND SPECIAL 2013 MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

The AAS membership services assure me that the renewal period, which has been more challenging to meet this time due to delays with the new online system, will be extended.
Please, if you’re among those who have not yet renewed, try again today online at https://members.aas.org/ by logging in to your membership record. You must have your login and password information. Once at the site, you can request to be sent your password if forgotten. You should not attempt to create a new member record.
Also, please take a moment to update your personal DPS member file.

If you have any problems, and for general replies, or if you are a special status (affiliate, etc) write to or call :
Faye Peterson
Director of Membership ServicesPeterson@aas.org
202.328.2010, extension 109
202.234.2560, fax

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CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2013 IUPAP YOUNG SCIENTIST MEDAL IN THE FIELD OF ASTROPHYSICS

The IUPAP Young Scientist Medal of 2013 and Award of 1,000 EUR will be awarded for a scientist working in the field of astrophysics. The winner will be invited to give a presentation of scientific achievements at the 27th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics (8-13 December 2013 in Dallas, U.S.A.).

The nominated candidate must not have completed more than eight years of research after their doctorate by December 2013. Interruptions for military service, family emergencies, etc (but not teaching) are allowed. One Medal cannot be shared between several candidates.

Nominations may be made by anyone with an interest in the field. Self-nominations are not permitted, but a candidate could ask a mentor or colleague to provide a nomination.

The nomination papers must include:
• A citation of approximately 50 words.
• Curriculum vitae of the candidate, which must not exceed two pages in length.
• List of 6 of the candidate’s most significant publications, including citation information, not to exceed one page.
• Commentary on the publications, which makes the case for the award, not to exceed two pages.
• Two letters of support (up to a maximum of three pages), at least one of which must come from someone not at the nominee's institution and not a mentor or significant collaborator.
The documents must be collated into a single pdf file called Surname_ysm.pdf, where Surname is the candidate’s name. The file must not exceed 2MB in size.
Nominations not conforming to these rules cannot be accepted.

The Medal winners will be selected by a committee composed of the members of
the IUPAP Astrophysics Committee (C19).

Nominations should be sent on or before the 1 June to the C19 Secretary and Chair of the Award committee (Grazina Tautvaisiene) by e-mail to grazina.tautvaisiene@tfai.vu.lt.

You can send any comments, questions, or suggestions to the DPS Jobs Czar at: dpsjobs@aas.org

A) BIOSIGNATURES INVESTIGATOR

NASA Ames Research Center in the San Francisco bay area is seeking a Biosignatures Principal Investigator to join its Exobiology Branch. The position is responsible for conducting microbiological and/or geologic research to identify biosignatures that can reveal and characterize past or present life in environments relevant to astrobiology, such as Mars. A job announcement, required qualifications, and application procedure are available at:

B) POSTDOCTORAL POSITION IN MIRO/ROSETTA GROUP AT OBSERVATORY OF PARIS

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position at LESIA, Observatory of Paris. The position requires a PhD in astronomy/astrophysics, and candidates should have experience on observations and radiative transfer modelling of molecular lines in cometary/planetary or circumstellar atmospheres.
The successful applicant will carry out research with Dr N. Biver, D. Bockelée-Movan, J. Crovisier and colleagues on the analysis of data obtained by the Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter (MIRO). The Rosetta mission will arrive at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014.
The goals of the MIRO instrument are to measure the sub-surface temperature of the nucleus, the production rates, and the relative abundances, velocity and excitation temperature of several gas phase species (CO, NH3, CH3OH, and three isotopologues of H2O), along with their spatial and temporal variability. The successful applicant will focus her/his research on the development of inverse methods for the analysis of the molecular lines.
The appointment will be for 15 months. The net income is on the order of 2000 Euros per month. Funds are provided by the French space agency (CNES). The starting date is ideally in October 2013.
Interested candidates should send a curriculum vitae, publication list and statement of research interests by 1 June, 2013 to Dr Dominique Bockelée-Morvan (dominique.bockelee@obspm.fr). Letters of reference can be sent separately or jointly with the application. Any question about the position can also be e-mailed.

LSF2013 will be a VIRTUAL conference with NO "in-person" component this
year!

Due to the recent government restrictions on travel, The NASA Lunar
Science Institute will broadcast the annual NASA Lunar Science Forum
(LSF) as a virtual conference the week of July 15-19, 2013. The
conference will be broadcast between the hours of 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. PDT,
Monday-Friday, to accommodate a wide spread in time zones.

The scientific program will feature sessions on in-depth scientific
results from the recent and pending missions, including: the Gravity
Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), Acceleration, Reconnection,
Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun
(ARTEMIS), and Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE)
missions. This year's conference will have unique features enabled by
virtual technology that will be described in later notices, along with
features of the LSF the community has appreciated in the past: the
annual Shoemaker Award Lecture (winner to be announced at the meeting),
the NASA Townhall, a virtual poster session, a virtual LunarGradCon
(for graduate students).

Abstracts deadline: Midnight PDT April 26, 2013

For more information about the format, abstract submission and
logistics, please visit:

This meeting aims at bringing together the community interested in the
CHEOPS mission and is intended to provide general information on the
advancement of the mission design, as well as to gather community
feed-back to prepare and optimize its scientific exploitation. An
immediate objective will be to collect scientific input as well as
comments on requirements in preparation of the writing of the
definition phase report (aka “red book”) for mission adoption.

Participants from all countries are welcomed. Since logistical
constraints limit the number of participants to ~100, priority will be
given to participants from countries that are member of the
consortium.

C) INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM "THE SCIENCE OF MARCOPOLO-R"
3-4 June 2013, ESA/ESTEC

The International Symposium "The science of MarcoPolo-R" (sample
return mission to a primitive Near-Earth Asteroid in assessment study
phase of the M3 mission competition at ESA) will take place at
ESA/ESTEC (The Netherlands) on June 3rd - 4th, 2013. See the web
page: http://www.sciops.esa.int/The_science_of_MarcoPolo-R .

The workshop is now open for registration on the web site. The goal of
this workshop is to involve the broad science community in
presentations and discussions of the science of MarcoPolo-R. The
meeting is open to interested colleagues from both the science
community and industry. Please register as soon as possible to ensure
your participation, as the number of places is limited.

The international community of planetary scientists is invited to submit an abstract for presentation of their recent work at the EPSC 2013 Meeting, which will take place at the University College London, United Kingdom, 08-13 September 2013.
The meeting will consist of oral and poster sessions, as well as workshop-style sessions.
The current list of over 80 sessions is organized around the following topics:

Please browse the list of sessions and identify the session that most closely matches your area of interest; your abstract can then be submitted directly to that session.
Information on registration, accommodation, travel routes, visa requirements and social events will become available soon on the meeting web site.

E) ORIGIN OF THE MOON
Two contiguous meetings sponsored by the Royal Society. Organized by David Stevenson (Caltech) and Alex Halliday (Oxford). The first will be September 23-24 in London and the second will be at the Kavli center (about 90 minutes from London), September 25-26. There will be a poster session for contributed papers at the second meeting only. For more information, visithttp://royalsociety.org/events/2013/origin-moon/
for the London meeting , andhttp://royalsociety.org/events/2013/moon-origin-satellite/
for the follow-on meeting.

Stellar and Solar irradiance are the main external forcing on planetary atmospheres and also strongly impact the space environment. Stellar and Solar activity triggers the local space weather conditions, so it is a primary input for modellers. Although measurements and modeling of the solar irradiance were under close attention during the last decade, the complete picture of solar variability and its impact on climate is still far from being clear. In particular, the secular component of solar variability is poorly understood, mainly because long-term measurements are scarce. Nevertheless, there is a rich set of observational data of Sun-like stars collected from the ground (i.e. APT measurements at Fairborn Observatory) and space (i.e. Kepler or Corot). Comparison of solar and stellar data should allow us to better understand and constrain the solar and stellar variability at all time scale (from flares to secular variations), which is relevant both for the Earth's climate and the habitability and detectability of extrasolar planets. This session invites contributions concerning all aspects of solar and stellar variability, especially emphasizing on what both communities can learn from each other. We also welcome contributions devoted to the interaction between planetary atmospheres and the Stellar/Solar flux in order to find out which tools might be used in the future for detecting Earth-like extrasolar planets.